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Tivo will boot the rc.sysinit.author file as part of the startup process by itself. Assuming you are using a stock kernel with null initrd, the 'iptables -F' should work but try placing it earlier in the file right after the export line. Also make sure your text editor can save unix style files (not notepad) so it doesn't insert DOS line endings. Serial console output makes things a lot easier but admittedly it is a pain to build/buy the proper TTL -> Serial cable on the S3 gens. You could also use a custom kernel and the 'exit 0' but that's a horse of a slightly different color. You're close though...

Thanks Scanman, to answer your questions, the output of each is as follows:

bootpage -b /dev/sda
6

bootpage -a /dev/sda
3

bootpage -p /dev/sda
root=/dev/hda7

This seems to confirm that I am working on the right partition. The file I was looking for is there now, I added the new one, but nothing booted. So either the CHMOD did not take (it didn't give me any status when I typed the command) or I need to do something else to make the tivo look for the new .author file.

I did see a post about a weird CP header or something that is left when you use Windows text editors. Your post reminded me of that, and I downloaded "Edit Pad Lite" and resaved the file as Unix friendly. I also put all the files back into the VAR directory.

The Tivo boots up just fine, and when I go into FileZilla, it seems to be making a connection:

So it seems to be talking to the Tivo now, which is was not doing before. I also have the TivoTools on there and I have a startup in the .author file pointed to start that FTP server on port 21. When I try to connect to the server on port 21, I get the same error message as above.

Making progress!

Also, Putty seems to be working too, when I connect to my tivo at 192.168.1.2 port 23, it shows me "bash-2.02#"

So that seems to be working, I have no idea how to use the BASH prompt yet, but I will work on that tomorrow.

To find the current directory, use "pwd". To change to a different directory, use "cd /var".

if you run "chmod 755 tvapppatch.tcl" and then "./tvapppatch.tcl" in the /var folder and it still doesn't work, your Windows box might've messed up the file. Try running "dos2unix tvapppatch.tcl", chmod it again, and then run it.

To use the patch commands directly, you have to remount the TiVo's OS filesystem as read/write (it's default read-only):

mount -o remount,rw /

run the dd commands

mount -o remount,ro /

This is all pretty basic stuff that has been discussed here over and over. At the risk of being rude, I'll reiterate my earlier post - search and read!

Alright, thanks for your help, I will not bug you guys with anymore questions.

I got FTP (21) working and telnet. At this point, I have given up on getting MFS_FTP working. I've got the modified patch file, when I execute the first first patch, it just gives me 16 hunk failed messages. I found someone else with the same problem in the support thread, but the answer isn't clear.

Not to mention, when I put all the files in the var/tivo-bin directory and try to execute the mfs_ftp.tcl file, it just tells me that the file doesn't exist, even though when I LS in the directory, I can see it in both the telnet and FTP. I just can't get it to start. I have gotten the copy protection flag to go away and I stopped automatic updates. So hopefully this will last for a while. I will just use Tivo Desktop to transfer. It's slow, but at least I can get the files off the drive now.

I am going to go through my now playing list and just set myself up to re-record all of the copy protected movies. Once they re-record, I'll delete the ones with the CCI flag set. Easy as pie.

There is something you guys may be missing, here. Disabling the automatic upgrade in bootpage will prevent the TiVo from upgrading and overwriting your hacks*, but aside from missing potentially important upgrades, with the old software on your TiVo, eventually it will stop getting guide data updates, as well. I'm not exactly sure when - it may be as soon as the TiVo downloads the upgrade. The bottom line is you will need to select a strategy that will allow you to keep your TiVos upgraded and implement that strategy every time a software release happens. There are a small number of different strategies, from simply completely re-hacking the TiVo everytime software is released to more complex slice management schemes and semi-automatic upgrade implementations.

* - Or at least it will at this time. TiVo could rather easily push out an upgrade that ignores the bootpage setting, but to date they have never done so.

So that seems to be working, I have no idea how to use the BASH prompt yet, but I will work on that tomorrow.

Originally Posted by jmartz

I couldn't wait, so I decided to look around and the BASH seems to just give me access to the file system, which is great.

Ahem. BASH is an acronym for Bourne Again SHell. It is based upon the Bourne Shell, one of several command line interfaces originally developed for UNIX and ported over to Linux. It is an extremely complex and highly developed user interface with extensive features designed with both human interface and scripting usage in mind. On any fully developed Linux distribution (not an embedded application like the TiVo), simply type "man bash" to bring up the man page for bash. The bash man pages are also available on the web. Don't expect to become proficient with bash in a matter of days, or even months, although the basic operation of bash is fairly straightforward. Note also that, unlike cmd.exe, most of the commands used in Linux are not internal to bash. Most commands are external applications, even very basic commands such as rm (delete), mkdir (make directory), and ls (list files). This design allows the basic commands to be uniform and applicable across all shell implementations under UNIX. Bash retained this philosophy when it was ported over to Linux.